CAM BOUNCES BACK AT INTER-COUNTIES

19th October 2010

Atlantis Junior Boys’ Captain Cameron Lambourne put his recent injury woes behind him to record a stunning short-course personal best of 53.93 secs in the 100m freestyle at the National Inter-county Championships at Ponds Forge Sheffield on Sunday.

Cam was representing Sussex in this year’s championships – his first major championship since the Scottish Nationals in June.Cam broke his arm in a traffic accident that forced him out of the National Age Group Championships in August, where he had been hoping to improve on his 2009 silver medal to make it gold this year.

Since his lengthy enforced lay-off, Cam has been working hard in training and his performance at the weekend showed that he is well on the way to getting back to his best.Lying 4th after the first 50m, he clawed his way into 3rd position in the second 50m, finishing just behind Matthew Johnson of Yorkshire and George Wilson of Berks & South Bucks in an exciting finish.However, it will be the time, not the placing that will please Cam most.His time of 53.93 bettered his previous best of 54.62 by nearly a second - a time he achieved to become the Sussex Men’s Open 100m freestyle champion in February.

Cam also swam the final free-style leg for the Sussex boys’ 200m Medley team and recorded a lightning fast split of 52.76.

Speaking after the event Cam said: “Missing the Nationals was a big blow, but you just have to put the disappointment behind you and work hard to come back even stronger.I’ve talked to my coach and we’ve decided to keep the number of competitions to a minimum until the New Year so I can focus on technique and fitness work.I have some big goals for 2011 and I want to be in the best shape to achieve them”.

While the Inter Counties were a personal success for Cam, overall Sussex did not fare as well as last year, slipping from 10th place overall out of 20 in Division 1 to 16th, although in the end the county avoided slipping into the 4 relegation places by a comfortable 39 points, thanks in part to Cam, who proved to be one of Sussex’s strongest performers on the day.